squatting

When Mexicans say mi casa es su casa they are not joking. All of our experiences with the people we´ve met make this clear.

While we were staying with Jeremy, we hung out with his friends who live in the same set of apartments as him, mostly archaeologists excavating Tzintzuntzan, also on the lake. One of his friends, David offered his house to us, because he had paid for the month of October, but left for Paris yesterday. So we´re staying in this house, free rent.

Unfortunately, yesterday we ran out of water. And this morning, the landlady came knocking asking for the rent- at first she wanted November´s rent, but we told her David had moved out and we were staying there to clean the place for him until the end of the month. Then she said that he didn´t pay October´s rent - all confusing since everyone says the landlady is a puta loca. Luckily, she didnt want to kick us out and just said to leave by the first.

So we might pitch a tent in Jeremy´s yard for the weekend, or go back to the campsite down the road. But we´re heading back to Morelia for a couple nights, on Monday, where we will couchsurf with the guy who gave us a ride to the CS party in the woods, Josué - and then, finally, head to D.F.!

Hiking in the bosque.

Yotatiro - the pueblo is this one and only street, sitting above Lake Patzcuaro. This where we´d end up when hiking out of the bosque to go into town.

I made this sweet coyote god mask in the bosque and left it for them to fire and paint. Maybe I´ll go back someday and see it hanging somewhere sweet.

This is Erongaricuaro, the second biggest town on the Lake.

In Santa Clara del Cobre, they gave us a demonstration of how they fire and shape copper. We got to do this part too! Here you can barely see my sweet copper crown and Ian´s warrior mask.

Jeremy has a great porch with a view of the mountains over the lake. We´d enjoy the sunset from here. He and Arturo get together and shread some sweet acordion.

Our camping set up - rethought to protect us from the rain and to have a space to keep our bags outside of the tent! Real Mexican camping.

There are millions of grasshoppers and tiny frogs hopping around in the grass where we pitched our tent. I wonder if one hunts the other (the grasshoppers are way huger than the frogs, creeps!).

unos fotos

Patzcuaro is getting crazy as each day gets closer to Dia de los Muertos. This weekend they put up huge tents around the plaza for even more vendedores than already exist. There´s tons of traffic and all the hotels have tripled their prices - while we tent camp on some grass for about 11 bucks a night. (No gas for the stove that´s in the kitchen they say we´re supposed to be able to use, grr.)

El Catedral in Morelia. Lots of candle vigils and peace marches here after the bomb.

This one above was our view from Chava´s house in Morelia - every Friday the farmers and vendedores take over the street and sell everything from produce to clothes to pots + pans and batteries, as well as comida corrida. They´re called tianguis. We usually seek these out in any town we´re in becuase it´s where the best deals are and the food is fresh fresh fresh.

Ian is wild with a machette (well so am I). A fun activity to let out some agression and exercise those forearms!

This is one of the spots we pitched our tent in the woods. This is a beautiful vista of Lake Patzcuaro and Janitizio.

Uploading pictures is slow and frustrating, so more later.

Patzcuaro

We've been in Patzcuaro, staying on a hill above the lake with an ethnobotonist, Jeremy. Jeremy's been sick with a parasite, so while he spends every night at his girlfriend's place, in the same apartment complex and with TV, we stay in his house like it's ours.
It was a big change to descend from the woods, to stay somewhere with electricity and water. I was ready to make dinner over a fogata. But this place is very tranquil - only a 10 minute walk from the centro, but so removed on the hill and with such a beautiful view of Lake Patzcuaro.

And to have a kitchen! Where we can buy whatever we like at the daily market in town and cook whatever we want! The food in the bosque was getting to me, if I haven't already mentioned that. So we've made sopesitos, mole enchiladas, and mexican fried rice from delicious, fresh, and cheap ingredients, and shared it with Jeremy and his friends. We've also fallen in love with corrundas, Michoacan-style tamales, but super fatty and with cheese and chile inside - we just look for a pot overflowing with corn husks... mmm. Even worse, we seek out the women who usually wander around the plazas selling gorditas de nata, ay! Biscuit shaped, sweeter than pancakes, the texture of a marshmallow, always hot and soft.

On the more touristy side of things, we had to make a trip to Isla Janitizio - an island in the middle of the lake, cram packed with houses, no roads but steep and narrow walking paths and steps that take to you to the top of the island where the gigantic statue of Morelos looks out over the lake. We climbed the spiral stairs inside his body to get to the scarier spiral staircase that goes up into his fist, where you can stick your head out of a small gap between his thumb and fingers and look out over the whole island and lake. While we were there it seemed to be water day, where a bus-boat stocked to the brim with jugs of water, and another full of empties, slowly circled the island providing the residents with drinking water. Literally everyone on the island was sending down their kids with 3, 6, 10 empty jugs. And the hike up to the top with the full ones seemed awful.

Yesterday we made a day trip to Santa Clara del Cobre... you might have guessed it, this is the pueblo world-renowned for it's copper work. I think any and all copper in the region comes directly from this small town. We got a couple small things, since we have no room for souveniers at all, and a couple regalos for Jeremy and Chava. But what really made the day was finding the shop where you can watch them form copper in the back. It was the same place I visited with the group in highschool. They fired a piece and shaped it while explaining that there's only one minute that they can pound it before they must return it to the flame so it doesn't break. They let us hammer a cooled piece that was ready for designs. Apparently, children start apprenticing at about 7 years old - all the small pieces like bracelets and ashtrays, and the little designs on the pots and things are done by the children. The adults do the big jobs and heavy hammering.


We really like Patzcuaro, it's a happenin town but still very quiet and relaxed, and the market is huge and goes on everyday - a fun place to wander and get lost in. Tonight we're moving to a campsite a little closer to the lake, and then... one of Jeremy's archaeologist friends has invited us to stay in his apartment when he leaves it on Tuesday for Paris. He's paid the rent till the end of the month, so we can stay there for the last 5 days of it for free! Muy chido!

El Bosque

We've been camping in the woods for about a week now. We're on a permaculture farm above Lake Patzcuaro- it's called Rancho Madrono, or El Bosque, owned by a semi-eccentric man named Brian. He's from Gig Harbor. smallworld.
We were driven up here by some couchsurfers from Morelia for a bit of a party- these guys hosted about 50 couchsurfers (moochers, some might call it) for the weekend, with people in cabanas and tents all through the woods. They provided breakfast, lunch and dinner (free for the party), vegetarian of course, as about everything we eat here is grown in the bosque. After everyone left we decided we liked it and stayed - a waaaaay different vibe when 83 acres goes from fifty people to 7.
We're now sleeping in a cabana instead of our tent. Turns out the lightest tent we could find is also the smallest. We can't sleep properly with our hikers' packs inside, so they felt bad for us and let us move into a cabin with a Mexican-king sized bed for the same price! This is still a worry on the back burner since we plan to camp a lot along the way.

The philosophy of the farm is to use what is provided by the bosque. Volunteers here (WWOOFMexico.com) are building new cabanas of adobe and wood and stone. There is a delightful sauna, of adobe and wood with a dirt roof to keep heat it-Brian says he uses it more than he showers, as sweating is a great way to get rid of grime. A quick rinse of cold water after is all he needs.
The one indoor shower uses a solar heater for hot water, and any necessary electricity (for this computer or the occasional treat of letting the volunteers watch a movie) comes from solar power as well. All water on the farm comes from many huge rain catches throughout the forest (except the bottled water we drink), and everything is cooked on an efficient wood stove.
There's art scattered all throughout the forest - wood carvings & totem poles in the most obscure places, all the huts are painted brightly with Mexican style images, random designs, figures -pretty much anything any guest felt like creating I guess.
The week has gone by kind of quickly, it's easy to fill our time here with arts & crafts, archery, trampoline, bird watching, sauna, washing laundry by hand, taking a machete to some overgrown paths (also called taking out some agression -others call it exercise), stacking rocks (a form of meditation), taking pictures and reading from the huge library Brian's managed to accumulate in the time he was here alone - 3 years solo en el bosque! - Amazon will deliver to a remote Mexican pueblo.

The other day we hiked about 15 minutes into the tiny town outside the woods: Yotitiro is literally a single road with a church, a tienda and a rain catch. From there we hitched a ride in the back of a truck to the next town, Erongaricaro, bigger than Yotitiro, but that's not saying anything. Here there are a few more tiendas and a video arcade (weird) centered around the town's plaza. But for anything else, you must get to Patzcuaro. So from there we took a 2 hour bus ride to town. This isn't the normal commute time between the two towns, we actually got stuck on the highway for like 45 minutes. All the pueblos are around Lake Patzcuaro, so it feels like you haven't gotten anywhere when you look out the window and see the same view of the lake with an island in the middle.

All this was to use the phone and to check on another campsite in Patzcuaro. I'd been to Patzcuaro when I was here in highschool, so it was fun to be in another place I recognized. We wasted money on a meal that's included in the price of our camping in the woods. We also stocked up on Doritos and Cheetos and Oreos for snacks - a blasphemy that I'm relying on for salt and sugar. I don't know how much more bland vegetable food I can handle - I need milk and cheese. I had a dream about a pizza. No Joke.

So we're kind of floating for the rest of the month. Our main goal is to be in Patzcuaro for Dia de los Muertos (Nov 1), but we're waiting on word from a man who'll let us couchsurf with him there, only before the 28th. There's a huge chance there won't be a place for us to stay during the holiday, so it's a bit worrisome. We know we could come back here if all else fails. We're also trying to make up our minds about staying here longer now or going to the campsite in Patzcuaro (half the price, but no food - it's really just a grassy field next to a hotel. So we'd be spending money on eating out since there's no wood stove or pits or anything).

Our plan keeps changing and it's kind of stressful. But as long as we stay here in the woods we don't have to worry about it. I'm anxious to get out of Michoacan already, so we might change our minds about where to be for Day of the Dead anyway. As is the nature of our entire trip.

couchsurfing - so sweet

We`re couchsurfing in an amazing Mexican home. Our friend`s name is Chava and he lives with his mom and several siblings (and five perritos), everyone unbelievably friendly and accomodating. La mama is absolutely adorable, feeding us traditional (and enormous) meals of Michoacán - tostaditas, sopesitas, gazpacho and tamales - delicious, platicando platicando todo el tiempo.
The house is beautiful, we have a seperate room with two terraces and TV, stereo, etc. It`s like the Ritz Carlton compared to the hostel.
Chava (short for Salvador) has shown us a great time. El Festival International de Morelia is going on and we got to catch a film - a Mexican movie (subtitles helped) called Amor, Dolor y Viceversa. Every person we`ve talked to has attended the festival, it`s really cool to see the entire city participating.
He`s taken us out and introduced us to his amigos, hombres muy chidos. Moa is a tattoo artist at the best shop in Morelia, and a couple of them are performing at a reggae festival with Max Romeo in D.F. in a couple weeks - we`re going to try to be in the city for it. Super nice, genuine friends, curious about our viaje and why we`re here.
It´s kind of satisfying to admit that we have no idea when and where we`re going, we get so many reccomendations on places to visit.

Not to mention, they`ve let us stay in their home for longer than we asked, una familia tan graciosa.


We found out that there was a terrorist attack in Morelia only a few days before we came, right downtown `una bomba fue boom` y 8 personas se murieron. Everyone tells us it was the mafia, narcotraffico. Mob es malo.


So tomorrow there is a couchsurfing gathering in the forest on Lake Patzcuàro, we`re driving up there with Chava and camping overnight - breakfast, lunch and dinner provided gratis! Then we`ll come back to Morelia to surf with another host for a few days longer.

Los primeros días

It is day 5 and we are getting into the swing of la vida mexicana.
Now we are staying in a hostel that is about a 10 minute walk from el centro, where all the college students and vendedores hang out, muchas parques y restaurantes tambièn. The hostel is less than a year old, where there is a muy vieja mujer quien se llama Florencia whose house it was in the 30 years before! She sits in the kitchen all day and cooks the beans we`ve bought at the market.
Which, by the way, is BY FAR cheaper than anything you could buy in a restaurant. We picked up ingredients for pico de gallo (onion, 2 tomatos, lime, jalepeños, cilantro as well as an avocado and beans) all for 17 pesos (about $1.50!) Ten fresh hot & soft tortillas were about 25 cents.

On our second night we found a bar/lounge that we´re sure is run by the Mexican Mafia. Ian is in love.
I forgot to mention that the airline lost my bag when we arrived in Morelia - the first time it´s ever happened to me. I didn´t get it until the third day, so I was sweating sack in Ian´s clothes the first couple days. It feels good to have my own ropa.

Burger King serves ketchup and green salsa, no mustard.

Yesterday we sat on the beautiful promenade where all the lovers stroll ever so slowly all day and played cribbage while I layed out my earrings for sale. I sold one pair! Saturdays no hay mucha gente en las calles, todos son en los barros. Monday: ¿mejor suerte?

Tomorrow night we will be couch surfing in the city, and then....? Possible Patzcuáro muy pronto, ¡para acampar muy barrato!